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Finding Primary Sources

Digital Archives on the Internet

American Memory (Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html 

American Memory provides online access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.

Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/ 

The Internet Archive is a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form, including texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages.

Making of America  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp/ 19th century books and magazines

19th Century American Literary, Historical and Cultural Studies Online Resources http://public.wsu.edu/~amerstu/19th/19th.html

Census records  http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/hiscendata.html

 Colorado's Historical Newspapers  http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/Default/Skins/Colorado/Client.asp?Skin=Colorado&AW=1329762697358&AppName=2

 

Search Engines

 
Search engines can be helpful when you are researching a narrow topic or trying to locate a specific document. When searching, use specific terms rather than broad terms. For example search for the “emancipation proclamation” not just “slavery,” search for the “battle of chancellorsville” not “civil war.”